The decision to undertake an office relocation is something that is not to be taken lightly, but it is certainly an exciting time. There is a myriad of moving parts that are up for consideration, but there is now – more than ever – an opportunity to make a serious change within your company. Jeakins Removals run you through making the most of your office relocation.
Reimagine the Company
In most cases, an office relocation is a sign that your business is doing pretty well, but nothing is perfect. Now is a great chance to streamline your processes, reinvigorate the culture, and switch a few things up.
To begin with, a business is something that should be at the height of productivity at all times. The applicable things to consider are case-by-case, but general themes include: “Are your strategies optimised?” and “How do your employees work, and is this efficient?”. It’s going to be extra work to add onto your plate initially, but you can pose yourself plenty questions that throw into contention the overall efficiency of your business, before you make according arrangements in order to improve upon this as the move takes place.
The culture of your company can also be something that you’re not quite happy with, and a change of space is the right time to address these changes and improve the persona of your business, along with the satisfaction of your employees. Now, you don’t need to go ahead and fill the conference rooms of your new space with ping-pong tables, but you can consider the interactions between employees, their downtime, their working environment and the ‘tone’ of the company image as a few starting points.
Reimagining your business is a complex idea to comprehend, and it may also seem futile in comparison to the mountains (of paperwork) that you will be moving in the near future – literally and metaphorically. However, you need to take the time to make the most of what you’re trying to achieve in the sense of a resurgence in the spirit of the company, as well as a welcome improvement to the efficiency and productivity of your functions. An imperative aspect of this reimagination is input from everyone – directors, executives, juniors, clients, stakeholders, shareholders, the children of your employees – everyone. You really want to encapsulate the intentions and objectives of everyone involved, and endeavour to cater to something that will improve the feeling toward your company for all.
Objectives
As is true with everything, you need to know where you’re going and how you intend to get there. This is never more clearly expressed than within specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, and timely (SMART) objectives. These will allow you and those working on the move the chance to articulate what should be done and what should be achieved. What’s more, this process will help with the creation of instructions for your office relocation, which will prove to be very useful in guiding everyone through it.
Again, it’s important to pose yourself questions. Questions are the key to answers, and answers are what you require to ensure you are making the most of this office relocation. Don’t worry, though, this should not fall all on one person. This should be spread out to the whole company and can entail a questionnaire, but answers are required and decisions need to be made. Without this, you will be going in blind to something that is far more stressful than moving house, and you remember how you felt last time you had do that, don’t you?
Things for consideration in forming coherent, useful objectives include budget, timeframes, logistics, and operations. The details, such as whether your employees are making the move all on the same day or throughout the week, and whether everyone has access to the new office (for example, will they need a code?) are to be considered and communicated. This is the perfect time to make use of company-wide emails that inform the plans to all affected both thoroughly and clearly.
Catering to the commute, parking, public transport, accessibility, organisation, time, and location requirements that need to be fulfilled should be something that is outsourced in terms of needs and wants. You can’t speak for everyone, and you shouldn’t have to, so survey what needs to be achieved and work it into an extensive plan. More on that now…
Planning
‘Planning’ is such a broad term that it can be daunting, exciting, complex – all of the things that your office relocation is, in itself. However, you need to plan. There is a responsibility that needs to be taken – and this can fall to a team of organisers, or a single person – it’s truly case-by-case and this needs to be decided on your terms (sorry, more decisions).
This truly ties into the objectives that should have, by now, been set in stone. You are at the stage of the process that allows for the organisation and the execution of this operation. It should be military-grade and extensive, but you should make it so that a child understands what is going on, why and when.
You should keep all stakeholders informed of all happenings with this move. A simple, but explanatory, email update should suffice but it needs to consistently detail the progress. Communication is key for a smooth transition, and not everything is as obvious as it might seem – for example, does everyone know the address of the new office? Do they know when they will move? What do they need to do? It’s best to keep these things standardised and basic to prevent confusion and save some of your time.
Celebration
It’s like a house-warming, it’s mandatory (not really, but it’s fun so it should be). This is the time that you can breathe and celebrate. You’re allowed to set some time – probably best if it’s not a school night – to let the team welcome the new space. A lot of great things will happen here, and a lot of great things happened in the old office, so allow this relocation to signify the past, the present and the potential.
This could also be a great time to meet your new neighbours, if applicable, and your employees can become acquainted with the space itself. Great news.
Moving Forward
Essentially, the key to a successful office relocation is to plan, plan, plan. This covers everything from what you want to achieve to how this is going to happen. Creating a vivid image of the whole process is going to make the life of everyone involved a whole lot easier. And, for what it’s worth, truly digging deep into what this can mean for your company is going to be an exciting feat in itself.
Hopefully, this offered some great insight as to how to undertake the task of an office relocation Hopefully, you will take this article away (maybe putting it in your reading list for later reference) and implement the suggestions we have posed. Hopefully, your office relocation will go as smoothly as intended, and it will signify great things to come for your business.
At Jeakins Removals, we offer exemplary services in removals and storage for commercial customers. These services are ideal for those heading into an office relocation, and we can even handle international moves. If you’d like to hear more about what we can do for you, please get in touch. You can call us on 01268 414 979 or fill out our simple contact form.
